Paige Bueckers was named WNBA Rookie of the Year this morning, with the Washington Mystics’ Sonia Citron finishing the race as the runner-up.
Of the 72 voters for the award, Citron was the only player besides Bueckers to receive any at all. Citron grabbed two votes to disrupt Bueckers’ near-unanimous campaign.
Snatching a couple of votes away from Bueckers, who recently wrapped up one of the greatest rookie seasons in WNBA history, is no small feat. Citron posted 14.9 points per game on shooting splits
of 47.0%/44.5%/87.2% — impressive numbers for any WNBA player, let alone a rookie. She was also named an All-Star alongside fellow rookie teammate Kiki Iriafen.
The Mystics with Citron as their best player (or Brittney Sykes during the first half of the season) were fighting for a low-seeded playoff berth before dropping 10 straight games to ultimately wind up watching the playoffs from home on the couch.
Bueckers’ Dallas Wings had it worse, though, finishing tied with the actively-imploding Chicago Sky for the worst record in the WNBA. They crossed the double-digit wins threshold on the final day of the season.
Looking ahead, the Citron-Iriafen-Shakira Austin duo looks to be the Mystics’ core of the future, alongside Georgia Amoore, who is set to debut next season after recovering from her torn ACL. Ancillary pieces like Jade Melbourne and Sug Sutton complete a roster that should compete for the playoffs next season.
